Shadow Slave

Sunny looked at the runes. Their eerie glow was swiftly growing brighter and brighter, drowning the chamber in a ghostly light. Slowly, a deep frown appeared on his face.

Then, suddenly, his eyes widened.

"Crap!"

But it was already too late. The runes shimmered, and in the next moment, he felt his reserve of shadow essence plunging. It was as though something was draining the essence out of his soul with terrifying speed.

At the same time, the range of shadow essence diminished even further, becoming limited by the size of the cage. The gloomy shadow recoiled, trying to get away from the shining runes.

Sunny hurriedly tried to summon the Cruel Sight, but he was a second too slow. Before the spear could form itself from the sparks of light, his essence ran dry, and it disintegrated before assuming a physical form.

"...Damnation!"

He looked helplessly at the bars of the cage and clenched his fists.

This was indeed a jail cell built to contain Awakened. Without shadow essence, he wouldn't be able to use Shadow Step to escape. More than that, he couldn't summon Memories anymore — manifesting them into reality demanded essence, as well, even if it was a tiny amount.

The same went for Echoes… and even Shadows.

He also felt weak, and was only going to grow weaker in the coming hours — without essence circulating through his body, Sunny's strength was vastly diminished.

...Whoever created this damned cage really knew what they were doing.

With a resentful snarl, Sunny turned around and allowed himself to slide down to the center of the dome, where Cassie stood with a lost expression on her pale, delicate face.

Raising one hand awkwardly, she tentatively moved it through the air around her and whispered:

"...I am blind again."

Sunny frowned, stared at her for a moment, and then turned away.

"You were always blind."

Of course, he knew what Cassie meant — without soul essence, the Aspect Ability that allowed her to perceive the world from several seconds in the future was gone, too. It wasn't exactly sight, but something that had replaced being able to see to her.

might have been cruel, but Sunny

in a cage, powerless to escape… that was his worst

he had no one but himself to blame for ending up that

blind girl, Sunny sat down, lowered his head, and grabbed it with both

'Curse him…'

the cathedral shook

for a while,

been the Gateway. They…

Sunny closed his eyes.

you

wondered about the black altar that was now laying somewhere in the depths of the Citadel in pieces. Was the ivory knife

begin with? Or was it just a lie Mordret had invented to lure him into the

else had he lied

teeth, suppressing a groan. He felt

careful not to trust the mysterious voice after hearing it for the first time. But Mordret had been so helpful, and had provided him with so much valuable information that proved to be true. Sunny

had been the smallest hint that Mordret wanted something from him, he would have suspected the worst. But the bastard was just

had played him like a

any pressure would scare his paranoid mark off, Mordret had simply mentioned the ivory

and waiting for his prey to come to him of its

Sunny shuddered.

much has he

to bet that there had never even been a need for Mordret to wait days between their conversations. All of it was just a part of an intricate web

I am

allowed himself to be fooled

appeared on Sunny's face, and he let out

his downfall was the truth! Like a masterful liar, Mordret had mixed just enough of it into

"Oh, the irony..."

asked, her

What exactly

a bitter chuckle

Don't you

blind girl didn't answer, and after